Anyone going to this tionól ?? John McSherry , Alan Burton and Steve Turner are tutors. Think Alan is doing the reed table. Should be a laugh.
link : http://www.swaup.org/
Cant wait to share the place with nyckelharpas 
Hi, I saw the SWAUP notice on the Halsway Manor site and am considering going (if there’s places left). It says that it’s a great weekend and that Halsway Manor is a fantastic place, but I already know that 
Can anyone tell me exactly what the format of the weekend is (apart from playing UP’s) that is. I am a raw beginner at these pipes and only have a practice set so is the weekend geared to beginners or is it for experienced pipers? Any advice welcome to this first poster, thanks in advance.
Hi there , welcome to the madness that is the pipes.IMHO I think it is quite pricey for what they are charging . I don’t like the fact that the venue is going to be shared with nyckleharpas. The tuition is split into three classes , beginners , intermediate and advanced. You’ll get about 1hr 30 mins on the Saturday and an hour on the Sunday with John McSherry. You can also get lessons with Steve Turner and watch the reed making table with Alan and perhaps have him give your chanter the once over as he his a superb reed maker. The bar shuts unbelieavbly early at 11.30pm so bring your own if you want to stay up and have a few through out the night. The food is a bit school dinnerish but ok.
Great weekend …mmm …ok maybe but never been great at this venue, however John McSherry is , he’s a great laugh and an amazing piper and he definitely brings the craic. Venue is pretty impressive but in the middle of nowhere. The sessions can be a bit of a pssng competetion to see who can play the fastest and isn’t geared in any way , shape or form for beginners , if you can’t play tunes then your pipes will keep your lap warm but I believe they are trying to remedy that by having a session which is a bit more sedate. Can’t say it’s my favorite tionol but it’s localish and you try and support other clubs and events. Steve is a very patient teacher and is generally underused so you could get a lot from Steve as he is a very talented piper.
cheers
Mei 
Thanks for the info, Mei. I’ve now booked myself in for the weekend, so I’ll get the chanter polished up, plug the leaks and get some extra practice in. I havn’t yet plucked up courage to take the set out to local irish sessions, too many good pipers around, but I play flute/whistle or button box so I’ll have something to play at Halsway if there’s any sessions going on. Diolch llawer.
aww, thanks Mei 
how was the southwest tionol? school dinners any good? or was it just chip butties allround? 
Hope the SWAUP tionol went well. I was honoured to teach at it many years ago and it was the best Tionol I ever attended!!
Great bunch of lads indeed!
Tommy
Tionol was ok , great to catch up with John McSherry. Venue is a bit sedate for my liking but each to their own. Unfortunately was school dinners again and no chip butties for the session either. Sacrilege. 
Aw! C’mon kiddies, the school dinners were OK, although I didn’t stay for the Sunday grub. The unripe fruit on the Saturday was a bit strange but apart from that I think we got our monies worth. Sessions were great especially Friday night. Great friendly bunch of pipers made me feel very welcome. John Mcsherry is unreal, no one should be allowed to play that well (green with envy smilie) I seemed to spend all my time at the reed table soaking up as much info as I could, no excuse now not to have a go myself. The only down side was the long drive home but I negotiated that OK. Tired but happy.